Band of brothers
He badly wants to win a medal, the Olympic gold medal
Jerwin Ancajas wants to see his handprints on Eumir Marcial’s gold medal drive in the Tokyo Olympics.
Moments after repulsing the ninth challenger to his throne, Ancajas expressed his desire to lend a hand to Marcial’s preparation for Tokyo.
“What I am going to do now is help out Eumir in his training for Tokyo,” Ancajas told this writer a couple of days ago.
You see, Ancajas and Marcial are close pals.
Just before they traveled to the United States late last year, they teamed up in playing airsoft.
And when they finally set up camp in Los Angeles, they were housed together, ate the same food, drank the same water and breathe the same air.
They bonded so well during their time together that they made separate vows to help each other out.
While Marcial is solely trained by Freddie Roach and his Wild Card crew, Ancajas maintains that he feels he can provide some form of assistance in the Zamboanga southpaw’s Olympic aspirations.
Day in and day out, Ancajas and Marcial trade stories relative to life and their respective careers.
“He badly wants to win a medal, the Olympic gold medal,” Ancajas said.
He’s also getting homesick like me.
Marcial is neck-deep in training under Roach and his gym sessions are going to intensify in the coming weeks and months.
The Tokyo Games is scheduled to reel off 23 July and Sean Gibbons, who represents Marcial and Ancajas using MP Promotions, is confident the hard-hitting middleweight is on the right track.
“Our mission is (winning the gold in) the Tokyo Olympics and that’s where we are focused on,” Gibbons said.
Last December, Marcial formally turned professional but in the absence of a fight, he is making up for it by getting topnotch sparring at the Wild Card.
“He’s been in the ring with the big guys and Eumir didn’t just stand his ground, he’s been banging some of them,” Gibbons added.
Ancajas, who won’t be seeing action until September, will temporarily concentrate on his role as one of Marcial’s training assistants while waiting for the right time to fly back to the Philippines.
He also floated the idea of asking Marcial to join him on the flight back to Manila.
“We can get sparring (in the Philippines),” Ancajas said, noting that by relocating to the Philippines, “Marcial will get reunited with his loved ones.” “He’s also getting homesick like me,” Ancajas said.
But wait.
What’s going to happen with his Wild Card stint? And if he goes back to the country, would Marcial distance himself from the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines? Pardon me but I have run out of space.
That’s another story for another day.